UnionPay, the payment organisation with the world’s largest cardholder base, today announces that it has signed a new commercial agreement with Nexi, the largest acquirer in Italy (serving 890.000 merchants and managing 1,1 million POS terminals), and a specialist in digital payments operating in strong partnership with 150 partner banks covering 80% of the system in Italy in number of branches .   The agreement will further increase the acceptance of UnionPay cards in Italy.

As well as the addition of this huge number of POS terminals, the agreement with Nexi will see UnionPay cards accepted by e-commerce merchants.  Nexi will also ensure full acceptance of UnionPay cards by all merchants using centralised and integrated payment processes, which is especially relevant for customers in the hotel, food and beverage and car rental sectors.

The completion of this commercial agreement is a significant step forward for UnionPay’s Italian business, increasing the level of acceptance across the country from 65% to approximately 95% by March 2021.

Wei Zhihong, UnionPay International’s Market Director and Head of its European Branch said: “Italy is a very attractive destination for Chinese tourists, and we are delighted to have signed a new agreement with Nexi which will significantly grow our network of acceptance.”

“Today’s announcement represents yet another step forward in our rapidly expanding global footprint. Italy remains a strategically important and growing market for UnionPay and today’s announcement will enable our cardholders to more easily and conveniently shop at a much greater number of Italian merchants. This will obviously be advantageous to UnionPay cardholders, whether Chinese or European, as well as to the Italian domestic economy.”

With over seven billion cards accumulatively issued worldwide, UnionPay is the card payment organisation with the world’s largest cardholder base. Meanwhile, its global network has extended to 174 countries and regions, which covers 53.7 million merchants and over 2.8 million ATMs worldwide.